STANDARDS in a Birmingham school have been threatened by a massive increase in the number of children who speak poor English, the minister in charge of immigration admitted.

STANDARDS in a Birmingham school have been threatened by a massive increase in the number of children who speak poor English, the minister in charge of immigration admitted.

Liam Byrne, a Home Office Minister and MP for Hodge Hill, said immigration had "unsettled" the country.

And he used the example of a junior school in his own constituency, where the number of pupils with English as a second language increased from one in 20 to one in five.

Mr Byrne was placed in charge of reforming Britain's immigration system last year by the Home Secretary, John Reid. He also announced further details of a new points-based system, designed to ensure only migrants with skills needed by employers are allowed to enter the UK.

Applicants will receive points based on criteria such as aptitude, experience and age. The number needed to enter the UK will depend on the state of the economy and the needs of employers.

Mr Byrne made the comments in a pamphlet for the left-leaning think-tank Policy Network.

He said: "We also have to accept that laissez faire migration runs the risk of damaging communities where parts of our anti-poverty strategy come under pressure.

"When a junior school - such as the school in Hodge Hill, my own constituency in Birmingham - sees its population of children with English as a second language rise from five per cent to 20 per cent in a year, then boosting standards in some of our poorest communities gets harder."

He added: "It is true that a small number of schools have struggled to cope, that some local authorities have reported problems of overcrowding in private housing and that there have been cost pressures on English language training but the answer is in action that is simultaneously firm and fair."

Mr Byrne said: "It's not racist for Labour to debate immigration; it's the real world - the world in which the people we represent live in."

Surveys of public opinion revealed "a cynicism, a suspicion, and a distrust that these changes are working for them," he said.